Santa Clause Comes to Baton Rouge: LSU Coaches’ Wish Lists for This Christmas

By ANDRE CHAMPAGNE, TIGER RAG’s RESIDENT SANTA CLAUS HELPER

After the acting Santa Clause was fired with cause due to eating too many cookies and drinking too much milk on the job, I’ve been named as the interim Santa for the rest of the 2025 Christmas season. There are many coaches in Baton Rouge that have long Christmas lists, but I’ll do my best to gift them their top asks.

Lane Kiffin

• Kiffin’s Christmas list was extensive. It included a new yoga mat and a Tiger Nutrition gift card, but those were merely stocking stuffers. His biggest wish? A top-tier transfer portal class.
• Circled on his list were the names “Trinidad Chambliss” and “Other Top Quarterback Available.” Kiffin also slid in a late request for Ole Miss running back Kewan Lacy to make the move to Baton Rouge following the Rebels’ playoff run. Luckily for Kiffin, Santa has Kiffin on the nice list unlike the fans in Oxford.

Brian Kelly

• Kelly’s Christmas wish was simple this year (a $54 million buyout will do that): a college football head coaching job. Unfortunately, his request is still pending as he currently sits on the naughty list.

Matt McMahon

• McMahon’s 2025-26 basketball squad is off to its best non-conference start since his first year with LSU (2022). But that doesn’t mean McMahon left his Christmas list empty. McMahon’s lone request for Santa was an improved scoring defense. The Tigers currently rank No. 101 in scoring defense, allowing opponents to score 70.1 points per game. In three-point defense, LSU ranks No. 166 in the country, allowing teams to hit 32.5% of its three-pointers. Santa will certainly do his best to make sure that McMahon and his Tigers display a better defense after the Christmas Holidays.

Kim Mulkey

• Mulkey’s No. 5 women’s basketball team has been one of the most dominant squads in the land, but she’s let the North Pole know time and time again that she wants her team’s defense to improve as conference play begins soon. Along with a sharpened defense, Mulkey asked for a healthy remainder of the season. Mulkey’s Christmas wish list also includes several new Queen of Sparkles gameday outfits. Santa knows better than to question wardrobe choices.

Jay Johnson

• Johnson doesn’t usually ask Santa for much, but this year he’s asking for his second straight ticket to Omaha for the Men’s College World Series. The reigning national champion coach dominated the portal and is looking for a big 2026 season.
• Santa added a memory-foam pillow and heated blanket to the bag, because folks in Louisiana keep telling me, “Jay Johnson never sleeps.”

Beth Torina

• One of Baton Rouge’s coaches asked for a luxury. Torina asked Santa for a deep postseason run and a trip for LSU to Oklahoma City for the Women’s College World Series for the first time since 2017.
• It’s the coaching equivalent of getting socks for Christmas – not the most flashy, but essential. And just like socks, postseason success is something Torina truly needs to accomplish this season.

Jay Clark

• This Christmas, Jay Clark has formally asked Santa in a letter for a healthy year after having a 2025 squad that dealt with the injury bug for most of the season. When Clark wrote his letter, he also requested several new jeweled crowns that his gymnasts could rock after sticking their landings.

Notable Names on Naughty List:

• College Football Playoff Committee (Stop Including Group of 5 Teams in Playoffs)
• Joe Sloan (LSU’s Offense Was Disastrous This Season)
• Those who are still putting tomatoes in their Christmas Gumbos (IT’S NOT RIGHT!)